Learning and living pedagogies of the home: The mestiza consciousness of Chicana students

Abstract

This article focuses on how Chicana college students draw from what they learn in their homes and how living a mestiza consciousness may be one way by which they have navigated their way around educational obstacles and into college. More specifically, Delgado Bernal draws on the work of Anzaldua (1987) to define the concept of a mestiza consciousness as the way a student balances, negotiates, and draws from her biculturalism, bilingualism, commitment to communities, and spiritualities in relationship to her education. Using this concept, Delgado Bernal offer a unique way to understand and analyze Chicana's educational experiences. Her analysis of life history and focus-group interviews indicates that the communication, practices, and learning that occur in the home and community - pedagogies of the home - often serve as a cultural knowledge base that helps students survive and succeed within an educational system that often excludes and silences them.